In this April 27, 2010 photo, helicopters and heavily armed police units swarmed Victory Boulevard, shutting down part of the neighborhood for two hours after an armed robbery at the Convenient Food Market in Tompkinsville.Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A clerk robbed and beaten four years ago in a Tompkinsville deli is fighting back by suing one of the culprits under a state law designed to prevent felons from capitalizing on their financial gains.

Fadhl Diffullah alleges he was beaten over the head and neck with a handgun when he did not "instantly" comply with the demand of one of three suspects to turn over his wallet and cash during a holdup at the Convenient Food Market, located at 164 Victory Blvd., on April 27, 2010.

"He suffered physically, mentally and emotionally from this," said Micah Kwasnik, Diffullah's Queens-based lawyer. "It was a very traumatic event that resulted in an injury and, years after, an unsettled emotional state."

Diffullah is suing Kwameek Stallings, one of three defendants convicted of the robbery, under the state "Son of Sam" law. The statute requires that crime victims be notified whenever a person convicted of a crime receives $10,000 or more from virtually any source.

In January, the state Office of Victim Services advised Diffullah that Stallings had received more than $10,000 from a civil judgment, said Kwasnik.

Later, in April, Victim Services sought a preliminary injunction against Stallings in Albany state Supreme Court. Details and disposition of the case were not immediately available.

Under the statute, Diffullah had three years to file a lawsuit against Stallings, Kwasnik said.

Now 22, he was released on parole in April 2012, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The Brooklyn resident's last name appears in those filings as "Stalling."

"Defendant engaged in conduct toward plaintiff that is extreme and outrageous so as to exceed the bounds of decency in a civilized society," contends Diffullah's civil complaint, recently filed in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Said Kwasnik, "We feel very confident going into court with all the information we have that he will be compensated for compensatory and punitive damages."

Stallings and two older cohorts held up the market, on Victory at the corner of Fiedler Avenue, authorities said.

According to police, a co-defendant, Willie Gary, now 27, held a gun to Diffullah's head while another defendant, Dwayne Sanders, now 27, and Stallings grabbed money from the cash register.

They also swiped lottery tickets from the counter.

Police said Sanders then took Gary's gun, ordered Diffullah to hand over his wallet and repeatedly pistol-whipped him on the neck.

In his civil complaint, Diffulah alleges Sanders beat him with the gun on the head and neck when he did not "instantly" comply with Sanders' demand for his wallet and cash.

Diffullah maintains he was placed, against his will, in a rear room and told he'd be killed if he left the room.

He escaped through an exit unknown to the perpetrators and summoned police, said Kwasnik.

According to Advance reports, cops thwarted the trio's getaway, and the crooks hid under the store's bathroom insulation.

Helicopters and heavily armed police units swarmed the block, shutting down part of the neighborhood for two hours, until they found the suspects in the bathroom.

After their arrest, Gary tried to give police a fake name, while Stallings attempted to convince police he was 14 years old, according to a criminal complaint.

In June 2010, Stallings pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a felony count of attempted second-degree robbery, according to information from District Attorney Daniel Donovan's office.

Gary and Sanders each pleaded guilty that month to attempted first-degree robbery.

Gary was sentenced to seven years in prison and remains in custody, according to online Corrections records. Sanders was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars and was paroled in April of last year, Corrections records stated.